The Russellville Democrat., 1887-12-21
rIoon. .nd xehemently refuas to swaIlcv

quite reckless HD0uu tue maHuttattcrs What did Christ says Did he not excoriate the people in his time who were so care- ful to wash their hands before Q meal, but did not wash their hearts? It is Q bad thing to have unclean hands; it is a worse thiDg to have an unclean heart. How many people there are in our time who are very anxious that after their death they shall be buried with their feet toward the East, and not at all anxious that dur ing their whole life they should face In the right direction, so that they shall come up in the resurrection of the just whichever way they are buried How many there are chiefly anxious that a minister of the Gospel shall come in the line of apostolic succession, not caring so much whether he comes from Apostle Paul or Apostle Judas. They have a way of measuring gnat until 1t is larger than camel.
 Again: My subject photographs all those who are abhorrent of small sins while they are reckless in regard to mag nificent thefts. You will find many 6 merchant who, while he is so careful that he would not take yard of cloth or a spool of. cctton from the counter with out paying for it, and who, if bank cashier should make a mistake and send in roll of bills five dollars too much, would dispatch messenger in hot haste to return the surplus, yet who will go in- to stock company in which, after awhile,l tho. gets control of the stock, and then waters the stock and makes one hum dred thousand dollars appear like two hundred thousand dollars. He only stole one hundred thousand dollars by the operation. Many of the men of fortune made their wealth in that way. One Of those men, engaged in such unrighteous acts that evening, the evening Of the very day when he watered the stock, will find wharf rat stealing news paper from the basement doorway, and will go out and catch the urchin by the collar, and twist the col lar so tightly the poor fellow can not say that it was thirst for knowledge that led him to the dishonest act, but gripthe collar tighter and tighter, saving, 1T have been looking for you long while; you stole my paper four or five times, haven't you, you miserable wretchsv And then the old stock gambler, with voice they can hear three blocks, will cry out, Police, policeV That same man, the evening of the day in which he watered the stock, will kneel with ms family i'll prayers and thank God for the prosperity of the day, then kiss his chil- dren good night with an air which seems to say: "I hope you will all grow up to be as good as your father,n Prisons for sins insectile in size, but palaces for crime dromedarian. No mercy for sins animal cule in proportion but great leniency for mastodon niquity. A poor boy slyly takes from the basket of market woman
 ale the cholera-and you smother him in the horrible atmosphere of Raymond Street jail or New York Tombs, while his cousin, who has been skillful enough to steal $50,- GOO from the city, you will make him candidate for the New York Legisla- turei
 There is great deal of uneasiness and nervousness now among some people in our time who have gotten unrighteous fortunes--a great deal of nervousness about dynamite. I tell them that God will put under their unrighteous fortunes something more explosive than dynamite the earthquake of his omnipotent in- dignation. It is time that we learn in America that sin is not excusable in pro- portion as it decares large dividends and has outriders in equipage. Many man
  lackey behind. To steal one copy of newspaper is gnat; to steal many thou sands of dollars is camel. There is many fruit dealer who would not cons ant to steal a basket of peaches from q neigh bars stall, but who would not scruple to depress the fruit market and as long as can remember we have heard every summer s'the peach crop Of Maryland is failure," and by the time the crop comes in the misrepre- sentaton makes a difference of millions of dollars. A man who would not steal one peach basket steals fifty thousand peach baskets. Go down in the summer time to the Mercantile Library, in the reading rooms and see the newspaper re- ports of the crops from all parts Of the country, and their phraseology Ia very much the same, and the same men wrote them, methodically and infamously carry ing out the huge lying about the grain crop from year to year and for score Of years. After awhile there will be a scor- ner'' in the wheat market, and men who had contempt for petty theft will burglarize the wheat bin of nation and commit larceny upon the American corn-crib. And some of the men will sit it churches and in reformatory institutions trying to strain out the small gnats of scoundrelism, while in their grain elevators and their storehonses they are fattening huge camels which they expect after awhile to swal- low Society has to be entirely recon structed on this subject. We are to find that a sin Is inexcusable in proportion as 1t is great.
 know in our time the tendency Is to charge religious frauds upon good men. They say: 'sOh, what class of frauds you have m the Church of God in this day;" and when an elder of church, or a deacon, or minister of the Gospel, or superintendent of a Sabbath-school turns out a defaulter, what display heads there are in many Of the newspapers. Great primer type Five line pica. Another Saint Absconded," "Clerical Scoudrel. ism,n "Religion at Discount, "Shame On the Churches," while there are thousand scoundrels outside the church to where there is one inside the church, and the misbehavior Of those who never see the inside of church is so great, 1t is enough to tempt a man to become Chris tian to get out of their company. But in all circles, religious and irreligious, the tendency is to excuse sin in proportion as tt tlb tIFcn VVuu n1lANDus III hie Paradise Lost.v while he condemns Satan, gives such grand description of him you have hard work suppress your ad- miration. Oh, this straining out of small sins like gnats, and his gulping down great iniquities like camels.
 The subject does not give the picture of one or two persons, but is gallery in which thousands of peo.. pie may see their likeness For instance, all those people who, while they would not rob their neighbor of farthing, appropriate the money and the treasure of the public. A man has house to sell, and he tells his customer it is worth twenty thousand doll ars. Next day the assessor comes around, the owner says 1t is worth fifteen thousand dollars. The Government of the United States took off the tax from personal income,